JUST seven days after Teofimo Lopez made a statement to the rest of the super-lightweight division, much-acclaimed Regis Prograis gets the opportunity to respond from home soil.

The two-time 140lb champion makes the latest defence of his world title at home in New Orleans against Puerto Rican Danielito Zorrilla this weekend.

The fight will be 34-year-old southpaw Prograis’ first since hooking up with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and what he hopes will be the principal step in unifying the division.

Prograis, 28-1 (24 KOs), suffered his sole defeat in 2019, surrendering his belt as Josh Taylor took the penultimate victory in becoming undisputed at this weight.

The fight was scored a majority draw in favour the Scot, but was as competitive as the scoring suggests and it seemed a rematch between the pairing would prove inevitable.

But, whilst Taylor would go on to capture all the belts, his career came off the rails with a lacklustre and highly controversial defence against Jack Catterall at the start of 2022.

And last week’s defeat to Lopez in New York set him even further back from the super-lightweight summit.

Prograis, meanwhile, has won four on the spin since losing to Taylor, three of which were stoppages and the last also involving picking up one of the vacated championship trinkets.

The Houston-based, fan-favourite has looked increasingly like the best man at 140lb for some time and if he defeats Zorrilla in style in the early hours of Sunday morning then the opportunities will come thick and fast.

Unfortunately, last week’s star Lopez has admitted he needs a sabbatical from the ring due to chaos in his private life, so the highest status fight may well be on hold.

But Catterall also recently signed with Hearn, meaning a matchup against the guy who actually beat the guy (I know Taylor got the decision but I refuse to let it go) would be a huge trade fight that decides the division’s new top dog.

However, there is perhaps an even more attractive and lucrative matchup with undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney on the table too, after he announced he was moving up a weight class in order to take a shot at becoming a two-weight world champion himself.

Zorrilla’s 17-1 (13 KOs) record has been padded out back home in Puerto Rico. But power is power and Prograis can’t afford to make any mistakes early in the fight.

Legit contender Arnold Barboza Jr boxed the challenger up last year for that sole defeat and I expect Prograis to do the same before unleashing his far greater power to close the show before the judge’s cards become a requirement.

TIP: Prograis by TKO 7-9 (23/10)